DeviantArt’s New Service Turns Users Into Massive Outsourced Creative Team

DreamUp gives any company a global creative office.

DeviantArt, the enormous online artist showcase, is moving into the creative services business with the launch of its new program, DreamUp.

Over the past 13 years, DeviantArt has grown into one of the top 100 websites in the U.S. and has become the go-to portfolio site for DreamWorks directors, Marvel comic book artists, and millions of emerging talents. It has also become a popular spot for Kickstarter project creators to source a logo, photography, or other creative assistance. Despite that, it’s an imperfect marketplace where clients have been known to stiff artists and artists to flake on clients, with no system separating good from bad — until now.

DevianArt’s new service, DreamUp, acts as a complimentary site to give art patrons a place to connect with designers, illustrators, and photographers to work on everything from story boards for a film to custom tattoo designs. With 26 million members and over 155,000 artworks uploaded every day, there’s plenty to choose from.

“We’ve worked hand and hand with the creative community for over a decade,” says DeviantArt/DreamUp founder and CEO Angelo Sotira. “We know how creatives and clients work together and what makes a successful collaboration. DreamUp is our vision for satisfying for both parties. Creatives are protected and clients are served.”

DreamUp, which officially launched yesterday, functions like a two-sided marketplace, similar to services like Airbnb. Clients can post jobs like designing a book cover and have artists apply to be selected, or they can browse portfolios and pitch their project to an in-demand creator. Either way, DreamUp takes a cut and everybody wins. Sites like 99 Designs offer similar services to bargain hunters, but DreamUp offers a premium, no-spec experience.

Unlike markets that get filled up with page after page of amateurs or hack submissions, DreamUp curates the designers with an invite-only policy. “We don’t allow any creative to work on any project,” explains DreamUp product manager Chinmay Lonkar. “We vet them based on their portfolios. This helps avoid the photographers competing for logo projects.”

Another problem DreamUp aims to solve is that fine aesthetic points don’t translate well into email. “Art fits into a wide visual spectrum,” says Sotira. “Often, clients don’t exactly know what keywords to use. You don’t know how to describe it but you know it when you see it.” Clients can attach images from the DeviantArt library to help clarify what they’re looking for, and the built in, HTML 5 drawing tool lets clients sketch directly on mockups they receive from designers, saving all parties the trouble of having to scan or photograph projects in process.

DreamUp also deals with the more mundane aspects of a project. Holding payment in escrow allows creators to have stages and gates in the process so they can recruit multiple designers to provide sketches, but choose one to finalize a product, while ensuring everyone gets paid.

Intellectual property is another big issue in creative collaboration. Often arrangement struck up on the internet can become contentious if a project takes off and one party feels slighted. DreamUp has built-in contracts that clients and artists can sign, and also offers the ability to upload amendments clarifying the roles and rights of both parties.

There are protections for artist as well — all images uploaded for a project are watermarked until the client pays, ensuring that they can’t run off with a project. DreamUp also makes pricing more transparent so artists don’t have to waste precious creative time responding to low-ball offers or unrealistic requests. “We’ve been in the business for 13 years so we have a sense for what the going rates are.” says Lonkar, who also notes that all applications are between the client and creator, unlike other sites which use forums. “All of these applications are private, so there’s not going to be any stolen designs or trash talking.”

Sotira says DreamUp gives anyone the ability to assemble a “dream team” of creatives ideally suited for a given project.

“DreamUp is your very own creative department,” he says. “It lets people use DeviantArt in a completely new way, and provides real material expansion to their creative departments. I think it’s a nuclear weapon I’m really excited about it.”